Picture postcard



Feb. 2l, 1967 D. GONCZY 3,304,641

PICTURE POSTCARD Filed Oct. 2, 1964 /g INVENTOR.

5 DONALD LGONCZY ATTORNE@ 3,304,641 PICTURE PUSTCARD Donald I.. Gonczy, 24650 N. Cromwell, Franklin, Mich. 48025 Filed Ust. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 401,146 4 Claims. (Cl. t0-158) The present invention relates to an improved postal card. More particularly, the invention -relates to a new and improved article of manufacture utilizable Iby an individual to attach one of a variety of sizes of photographs thereto to make a picture postcard.

The variety, sizes, and shapes of the various prior postal cards and postal picture cards are infinite. There is, however, no known article which enables an individual to fabricate his own picture postal card utilizing his own picture, regardless of the size of the particular picture.

Often when the people are visiting away from home, they utilize picture postcards to send to those to whom they wish to relate some comprehension of the environment being visited. So-me people find it interesting to send to people, to whom they wish to communicate an idea of the environment in which they are living, an actual photograph taken by themselves, or perhaps even a photograph of themselves. There is no known device which enables one to send an individual photograph to another person without utilizing an envelope. The desire of people to send individual photographs to Various friends has been aided and abetted by the fact that rolls of exposed film may `be processed in amazingly short periods of time; for example, one day service is commonplace. Furthermore, the advent of cameras which produce linished pictures within a few seconds to a minute afford an individual with instantaneous pictures which he -may send to various of his friends. Although an individual may get finished pictures very quickly, the sizes of photographs vary widely depending upon the size lm used and the developing process.

There is, therefore, a need in the art for an article suitable for posting as a postal card to which a photograph may tbe secured and which may receive photographs of various sizes in order to afford an individual the opportunity to make his own picture postcard utilizing a photograph of his choice. It is the general purpose of this invention to provide an improved postal card to which an individual may easily secure a picture of his choosing, the size of which picture or photograph may vary, and which postal card may be sent through the mails with the photograph secured thereto. To obtain the desi-red article, the present invention contemplates the unique and novel arrangement of materials and elements to provide an improved postal card which is capable of providing an area of adhesiveness equal to the area of a photograph desired to be adhesively attached to the article.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel postal card which may `be utilized to make a picture postcard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel article of 'manufacture which is capable of producing an area of adhesiveness equal in size to -any one of a variety -of sizes of elements to be attached thereto.

A further object yof the present invention is to provide a postal card which may be made into a picture postcard by attaching a picture thereto, which postcard is capable of producing an area of adhesiveness to receive the photograph regardless of the size of the area of the photograph.

Gther objects and many of the attendant advantages nited States Patent O of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same 7 becomes `better understood Aby reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an illustrative embodiment of a postal card showing one surface thereof, which surface provides an adhesiveness for attaching a photograph;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1 of the postal card of the present invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the opposite side of the postal card to that side shown in FIGURE 1 and shows an area suitable for postal markings.

Referrin-g now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a plan view of the postal card of the present invention showing the side which may be selectively made adhesive yfor various sizes of photographs to tbe attached thereto. It is to be understood that it is within the contines of the present invention to u-tilize any size postal card which may, in turn, utilize varying sizes of area which may become adhesive; however, for illustrative purposes, the drawings demonstrate the invention -by showing a postal card 31/2 inches wide and 51/2 inches long, the tota-l area of which on one side may be made adhesive, as will `be hereinafter more fully explained.

As is more clearly shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the article utilizes a material 12 for one surface thereof which material may be of a semi-rigid type such as, for example, cardboard of the type Well known in the fabrication of postcards. Coated on one side of the material 12 is an adhesive substance 14. The adhesive substance 14 is covered by a series of sheets of material to form the surface 16.

As alluded to previously, FIGURE l shows the surface 16 which is comprised of a group of sections or sheets of material of various sizes, which sheets are numbered 1 through 11. Each respective section or sheet of the surface 16 may be removed to uncover an area of adhesiveness 14 to which a foreign material may be secured, as, for example, a photograph.

The size of the photograph desired to be adhesively secured to the postal card determines which combination of sheets forming the surface 16 will be removed to provide the desired area of adhesiveness. The following table shows, in the case of the card chosen to illustrate the invention, a series of various sizes of photographs for which respectively there is indicated the numbers of the sheets which may be removed to provide an area of adhesiveness equal to the area of the photograph wherein the size of the photograph is in inches:

Photograph Sheets to be Removed Size Il. 10 or 5 4. 1 and 4. 5, 7 and 11. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 11. 4 and 10, or 5, 6 and 11 2, 3, 5, 6 and 11. 21/x 3 1,2, 4 and 5. 21/2): 3%. 3,6, 7, 8 and 9. 3X3.. 4,5,10a11d11. SXSM 1, 2,4, 5,10ar1d11 3X4.. 4,5,6,l0a.nd11 3 X 4% 4, 5, 6,7, 10 and 11. 31/2 X 3 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. 3% x 414 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11. 31/2 x 5 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 3% x 5% l through 11.

It is to be understood that the postal card in FIGURE 1 is merely illustrative. It is possible by further subdividing the sections of the sheets shown in FIGURE 1 or by changing the total area that many more combinations of sheets may be acquired whereby there would be furnished additional possibilities in selecting an area of a particular size to which a photograph may be adhesively secured. It is to be understood that it is desirable to be able to selectively remove the sheets from the adhesive material to provide an area of adhesiveness equal to the area of the photograph, since in the event the photograph did not cover the total area of adhesiveness, some of the adhesive coating would be open to the environment of the postal card and therefore subject to aixing the card to foreign materials. For example, if the photograph is smaller than the area of `adhesiveness and the postal card is posted and sent through the mails, it may become secured to other letters or materials being mailed due to the open area of adhesiveness. Therefore, by providing a postal card with an adhesive surface covered with a series of sheets of material which may be removed in various combinations, the exact area size required for a particular photograph can be provided.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, the present invention provides a unique article for enabling one to make a picture postcard by securing a photograph, which may be of a number of various sizes, to the article whereby the article may be sent through the mails as a picture postcard.

The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used herein is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.

Obviously, many modications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than is specically described.

I claim:

1. A postcard for adhesively attaching any one of various common sizes of rectangular photographs thereto comprising a surface adapted to receive a mailing address on one side thereof and an adhesive surface on the other side thereof, and various sized respectively integral rectangular means covering said adhesive surface for selective removal therefrom to provide any one of a number of different rectangular areas of adhesiveness which vary in size and are respectively commensurate with areas of common sizes of rectangular photographs, lwhereby a photograph of a particular size may be adhesively attached to said postcard by removing the appropriate ones of the various sized means to provide an area of adhesiveness substantially equal to the size of the photograph while the rest of said adhesive surface remains covered.

2. A postcard for adhesively attaching any one of various common sizes of rectangular photographs thereto comprising an article suitable for posting having first and second opposed surfaces, said first surface for applying postal markings thereto, said second surface having an adhesive coating, rectangular sheets of material removably secured to said coating, said sheets being of various sizes and relatively disposed to provide a selection of any one of a number of different rectangular areas of adhesive coating to be uncovered which vary in width and length and are respectively commensurate with areas of common sizes of rectangular photographs, whereby a photograph of a particular size may be adhesively attached to said postcard by removing one or more of said sheets to provide an exposed area of adhesive coating substantially equal to the size of the photograph while the rest of said adhesive coating remains covered.

3. A postcard as set forth in claim 2 including means 0n said sheets respectively to indicate particular sheets to be removed for establishing an arca of adhesive coating` of a particular length and width.

4. A postcard for adhesively securing thereto a rectangular photograph of any one of a plurality of pre-- determined common sizes comprising an article suitable for posting having first and second opposed surfaces, said first surface for applying postal markings thereto, said second surface having an adhesive coating thereon, rectangular sheets of material of Various lengths and widths removably covering said adhesive coating, said sheets being disposed in relation to one another so that a combination of said sheets may be removed to uncover a rectangular area of adhesiveness substantially equal to the area of the photograph to be secured thereto while the rest of said adhesive coating remains covered, and said combination of sheets being variable per article for providing any one of a plurality of different sized rectangular areas of adhesiveness on said second surface respectively commensurate with areas of common sizes of rectangular photographs.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 816,870 2/1906 Markol 40-158 1,261,133 4/1918 Kidd 40-158 2,896,351 7/ 1959 Johnson 40-158 3,002,309 10/1961 Snyder 40-16 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examinez'.

W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A POSTCARD FOR ADHESIVELY ATTACHING ANY ONE OF VARIOUS COMMON SIZES OF RECTANGULAR PHOTOGRAPHS THERETO COMPRISING A SURFACE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A MAILING ADDRESS ON ONE SIDE THEREOF AND AN ADHESIVE SURFACE ON THE OTHER SIDE THEREOF, AND VARIOUS SIZED RESPECTIVELY INTEGRAL RECTANGULAR MEANS COVERING SAID ADHESIVE SURFACE FOR SELECTIVE REMOVAL THEREFROM TO PROVIDE ANY ONE OF A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT RECTANGULAR AREAS OF ADHESIVENESS WHICH VARY IN SIZE AND ARE RESPECTIVELY COMMENSURATE WITH AREAS OF COMMON SIZES OF RECTANGULAR PHOTOGRAPHS, WHEREBY A PHOTOGRAPH OF A PARTICULAR SIZE MAY BE ADHESIVELY ATTACHED TO SAID POSTCARD BY REMOVING THE APPROPRIATE ONES OF THE VARIOUS SIZED MEANS TO PROVIDE AN AREA OF ADHESIVENESS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE SIZE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH WHILE THE REST OF SAID ADHESIVE SURFACE REMAINS COVERED. 